Soulmates Are Never Who You'd Think
by Jinx13GXA
Summary: When Gray first started college, he made the mistake of taking an 8 am english class. He also made the mistake of nearly being late, which left him with the only seat left open. Too bad it's right next to a guy with bright pink hair who's wearing platform boots. He's bout to be as loud as he's dressed, and Gray doesn't want to deal with it. Too bad they're also in the same math cla


Gray had never particularly minded English classes, but the moment he walked in, he knew he was going to hate this one. Not only was it eight in the morning, but in the very first row there was a boy with bright pink hair in an equally bright tank top with Japanese characters plastered across the front. He had his feet up on his desk, which showed off the ridiculous platform boots he was in, and it left only one thought in Gray's head. _He's going to be as loud as he's dressed, isn't he?_

Much to his dismay, he was the last one to arrive, and the only seat left is the one right beside him. Gray sighed and sat down, mentally preparing himself for what was to come. "Can you move your feet?"

"Hm?" The pink haired boy reached up and removed an ear bud, which matched his hair so well they'd gone unnoticed.

"Move your feet," Gray reiterated, "There's not room to sit my laptop."

He laughed loudly, thinking it was a joke, then eyed Gray up and down when he realized it wasn't, "Dude, it's the first day. We aren't going to do anything except listen to the syllabus."

Gray rolled his eyes, and he could feel eyes on him from all around the lecture hall, "Exactly. The syllabus that's on my laptop. Now move your fucking feet, pinky."

"Well, aren't you just chipper," He said as tucked his feet back under the desk, and if looks could kill, he'd be dead. Unfortunately, he didn't even bother to acknowledge Gray after their initial interaction.

The room only seemed to get tenser in the quiet, and it wasn't broken until the professor came in, apologizing for being a few minutes late and scrambling to pull together their pre-made presentation of the syllabus. As much as Gray hated to admit it, the boy had been right. There was no need to have the syllabus pulled up and he learned nothing in their first class.

_No, that's wrong. I learned two things. The annoying boy I'm now stuck next to for the rest of the semester is named Natsu, and he is an asshole._

* * *

The moment Natsu left the room, and therefore had nothing else to focus on, the anxiety hit him like a truck. _Why did you say that? Why did you say that? Why did you say that? Why did-_ The thought repeated itself a few more times while Natsu struggled to quiet it. He only had one more class on Mondays, and it wasn't for another forty minutes. He roamed around campus, walking the route to his classes over and over again until they were memorized, and chose to snack on a pack of pop tarts he'd found in his bag while looking for one of the various stim toys he knew were in there _somewhere_.

He walked into his math class ten minutes before he knew he had to be there, but he almost walked right back out when he saw the same boy he'd sat next to during English that morning. _Ah. God shits in my dinner once again. _He made sure to sit on the opposite side of the room, but he could feel the other's eyes staring into his soul from across the room. _Breathe, Natsu. Breathe. Maybe he doesn't care about this morning._

He kept his mouth shut and head down, the majority of the class spent quietly ignoring everyone else there. The professor went over the syllabus just as the English professor had done that morning, but halfway through the class they did a few sample problems. Most of the class was already struggling. Fortunately, Natsu found that he had no issues solving the equations.

_At least I know this math course will be easy_.

* * *

Gray watched quietly, as Natsu answered all of the questions with ease. His eye twitched in annoyance as rage filled him. _Why is he in this class if he already knows how to do this? Why didn't he just test out? It's not like they wouldn't have given him the test, especially if he could show them what he's doing right now. Then I'd only have to deal with him once a day. Honestly one class is already too much with this pink haired nuisance. _

Gray was out the door as soon as the professor said he was done for the day. He made sure he was as far ahead of everyone else as he could, and he booked it back to his dorm.

Even though fall was nearing closer by the day, the intense heat of the summer sun hadn't left yet. The chill of the crisp autumn air wouldn't be there for another few months, but Gray was already longing for a chance to wear his sweaters. He'd never been bothered by the cold, bing from Canada does that to people, but that didn't mean he liked sweaters any heat however, was sweltering. _If I never had to go back out in this, I wouldn't be upset in the slightest. _

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. _It's going to be a long semester._

* * *

The first month of classes went fine for both Natsu and Gray, as they both basically ignored one another, interacting as little as possible all throughout it. Unfortunately, that began to change as Gray began to struggle more in math. As the class got harder, he began to use his time in his easier classes to continue studying. The concepts begin to drive him up the wall,to the point that he was even studying in English class right in front of Natsu, the one person he desperately didn't want to know he was struggling. _What the hell even is a dominant eigenvalue anyways?_

* * *

Natsu could see that Gray didn't want anyone's help, let alone his. _I wish he would let me help him, because then I would have a chance to apologize for what happened when we first met. _

After about a week of watching him struggle, not so quietly worked out the equation that Gray was trying to solve on a handful of post it notes, leaving instructions on how to do similar problems beside the answer. Rather than hand them to Gray directly, he slipped them into his folder while he wasn't paying attention. _Hopefully this helps him, and maybe he'll even think that it's from someone else. I don't think he'll be as embarrassed as he would if it was me then. Since he obviously dislikes me, or at least has a little discontent involving every interaction we've had._

Grey wouldn't find the notes until later, when he was forced to accept them with a begrudging acceptance.

Later that week, he wrote two words on a post it note and attached it to Natsu's backpack. "Thank you."

* * *

Natsu lied down on his bed, thinking deeply as he stared at the ceiling. _He said thank you, so he can't hate me completely, right?_

Happy, his emotional support cat, crawled onto his chest, purring deeply in an attempt to comfort him. Natsu was diagnosed with severe social anxiety at a young age, and he's had Happy ever since. He stroked the cat gently, still deep in thought. He hated that his anxiety could make him feel like this, and that no matter what he tried he couldn't help but hated the feeling of being disliked. He knew there were several people who dislike him. Those who bullied him as a child, all of the fake friends he's had, and even some of his cousins made that abundantly clear. He didn't even have anyone that he would consider a friend, because in the end, they all ended up leaving him for better friends or other people in general. He supposed it wasn't entirely his fault, considering how many times his family moved around, but it still hurt to not have anyone that he could really talk to.

Well, except Happy.

He had expected college to be exactly the same, but then two people that he met in the library on accident—he stumbled into them—decided they were going to befriend him. Erza and Lucy were his first real friends.

Oddly enough, Natsu's favorite part of being friends with the two of them wasn't actually having friends. The two of them were soulmates, and it was the first pair of two girls he'd ever met. As odd as it may have been the sun, it made him extremely happy. Not to himself found boys far cuter than girls, and knowing that it was possible for his soulmate to be a boy so that he could love him the way that he deserves made him happier than he ever thought he'd be.

That has always been a major source of anxiety for him, since it was normalized for soulmate pairs to be one boy and one girl. Natsu supposed he was lucky that he got any response from his soulmate at all.

Some people would write desperate greetings on their arms, knowing that it would show up on their soulmate and hoping that they could see it one day or that their soulmate would respond to them, but they'd never receive an answer. There were others who denounced their soulmates, refusing to believe in the system that would give them the perfect partner, and instead chose the person they fell in love with themselves. Well these were few and far between, as most people long to meet their soulmate, the possibility was never zero. That's why Natsu was so happy the day he finally got a response.

Natsu's soulmate had never responded with words. In fact, they'd never even tried. Anything that showed up on his skin from his soulmate was art. They had all started small, little doodles of cats or dogs or other miscellaneous things, but then they got bigger and bigger and more beautiful as the years passed. Full paintings would show up on him from time to time, and all he could think was that his soulmate was amazing. It was why not to wear the clothes that he did. If your soulmate had decided to draw somewhere on his body, causing it to show up at Natsu's skin, then he wanted to show off the beautiful art that he had been gifted. It only lasted for 24 hours after all.

After a while he shut the start of his soulmate aside, as he had a paper to write. However no matter how hard he tried, lots of Gray popped back up. _Why am I so hooked on this one person? He's not the first person to__ dislike__ me, and she definitely won't be the last. So why him?_

* * *

Gray was stressed out beyond belief. He was nearly failing math, which would cause him to lose his scholarship. Gray was also stubborn beyond belief, which was the only reason he hadn't cracked and asked the one person in the class who knew what he was doing for help. Because asking Natsu for help, would mean admitting defeat.

He knew that he would reach his breaking point soon though, as a project had just been assigned and he didn't even know how to do the first part of it. It's not that he didn't try. As a matter of fact, he spent hours watching various YouTube videos and Kahn Academy videos trying to understand the concepts that they were taught, but he just didn't understand it.

He cracked within three days.

Most of the third day was spent trying to figure out how he would asked Natsu for help. They had spent most of their time ignoring each other or carefully limiting their interactions, which gave him no reason to start speaking to Natsu now. Well he tried desperately to figure out a way to start a conversation with him, the professor gave him the opening he was looking for.

"Since so many of you are struggling in here," the older man said near the end of the class, "I've paired everyone up for the project. Pairs are on the board."

Gray had never been more thankful for his luck.

* * *

Natsu cursed mentally when he saw his name next to Gray's, and he felt his anxiety spike terribly. _Fuck he's gonna be mad at me. Will he even want to be my partner? Goddamnit._

The relief that flooded his body when he saw a gray walk towards him instead of the professor to change partners meeting visibly relax. He waved to Gray awkwardly, and showed him the pages of the project that had already been done. "I already have most of it done, but uh… if you want to look over it you can?"

Gray leaned over his shoulder quietly, "Ihonestly understand none of this, so I'm just going to assume that you're right and we're going to go with it."

At first Natsu said nothing. He didn't know what to say, because he knew Gray was struggling, but he didn't know it was that bad. "You don't understand _any_ of it?"

Grade and look at him, "That's what I said isn't it? I'm an art major for fucks sake. Who gives a shit about math and finding a fucking X when I plan to paint for the rest of my life."

"I can show you how to do it if you want?" Natsu's voice is soft, and he's hoping that he didn't offend Gray, or make Gray think that he thinks he's stupid, because he doesn't.

He shrugged, "Sure. I guess. If you can actually teach me how to do this shit, then it'll be a fucking miracle."

This time it was Natsu's turn to shrug, "I'm sure I can help you figure it out. It's not hard once you get the hang of it."

Gray seem to take that as a challenge. "You say that now, but I haven't been good at math since they first taught us addition. There's a reason I'm an art major and not anything else."

* * *

The noise the fire alarm made was the most horrible noise Natsu had ever heard in his life. It sounded like someone had amplified feedback beneath the normal staccato blaring, and it nearly knocked him out when it first turned on. Happy had jumped into his arms gently nuzzling his cheek when he sensed the oncoming sensory attack. Natsu was desperately trying to focus on anything other than the noise that was attacking his mind as he stumbled out of the building and into the cold air. He walked as far as he could before his legs gave out beneath him, and he was forced to give into the sensory attack.

He leaned heavily into the side of an old brick building hoping that the texture of the brick could give him something else to focus on. He was far enough away from the building to no longer hear the alarm, however, it's still rang clear in his mind as he slid down the wall. Nausea bubbled up in his throat and he fought it off as hard as he could as he tried to ground himself. Happy continue to nuzzle his face and neck gently, doing his best to help Natsu out of the attack.

_Fuck I didn't want to deal with this shit today._

* * *

Gray covered his ears as he walked past the building whose fire alarm is going off. He vaguely heard someone say that it was due to burnt popcorn and that there wasn't actually a fire going on. As he continued his walk to class, he noticed a familiar figure curled up on the ground, and for a moment his heart leapt into his throat.

Natsu's pink hair was splayed out around him as he lay on his back, creating a halo like effect. There was a bluish tinted a cat on his stomach and pawing at him, a small patch with the letters "ESA" in bold cobalt on their collar. _I mean… I wouldn't really call us "friends…" but I should at least check on him, right?_

After a brief moment of hesitation, he walked over awkwardly, "Natsu?" He didn't even bother to open his eyes as he waved Gray off. "Well fine then, I was just trying to make sure you weren't dead-"

"H-having… issues-" Natsu's voice was soft, even as he cut Gray off. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed quickly, still not opening his eyes. He passed it to Gray when he was done.

Gray took it hesitantly, reading what it said aloud, "Sensory issues among other things. Fire alarm is loud. It's a bad sound. Need a minute." He didn't really know what to do with that information, so he simply sat down next to him. "Uh… I can sit here for a bit? Or leave. It's whatever." Natsu shrugged a made a grabbing motion. "Wha-? Oh," Gray passed his phone back and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry."

The second message Natsu read simply said, "It's fine. Thanks for staying," and Gray smiles again. _Maybe he's not so bad._

* * *

When Natsu saw Grayin class the next day he waved him over. "Thanks again for yesterday I really appreciate it." Happy was sitting in his lap today, as Natsu didn't want to leave him behind lest the left over shakiness causes more issues. He pet him gently all throughout the day, and Happy was content being leashed.

"It's no problem," Gray mumbled. "You look like he needed it."

* * *

Gray was two seconds from bashing his head and on the desk, the ridiculous equation weighing in heavily in his mind. None of what the professor said had made any sense for the last six classes, but when he looked, he saw Natsu smiling at him from across the classroom. He silently mouthed, "I'll explain it to you after class, if you want?" Gray nodded.

The second class was over gray packed up and headed over to standby Natsu to wait for him. Happy purred contentedly and brushed up against Gray's leg, wanting to be pet. He purred louder when gray obliged. "Happy is very cute."

"He's also an attention whore," Natsu said. "If you want, you can play with them while we go over this." Natsu smiled up at him as he grabbed his things, and they walked together to the library. It didn't take them long to go over everything that they needed to, and within 40 minutes Gray understood everything that he hadn't learned the past six classes

"Why does this make so much more sense when you explain it," Gray mumbled. "It's like the professor is deliberately trying to confuse us so that we do worse on his tests and assignments and then fail his class!" He glared at Natsu when he giggled. "What?"

Natsu shrugged and laughed a bit more, "That's a possibility. I just happen to be good with numbers." he paused for a moment to think, "Can't draw for shit though, but I'm sure you can if you're an art major. I suppose it's just a matter of personal talents."

Gray sighed. "Yeah I guess... Thanks for this by the way."

"It's no problem! if you have any other issues just ask. I don't mind explaining it." He smiled softly as he got up and left, and Gray felt an odd flutter in his heart.

_What was that?_

* * *

The next time they met to go over math, Natsu was typing an essay at the same time. "Are you taking two English classes or something?"

Natsu finished the sentence he was typing and turned to look at him, "Three, and this one's for the 8am we share-"

Gray shook his head, "No, that's due tomorrow-"

The deadpan expression Natsu sent his way made it clear how done he was. "It's the fifteenth, Gray."

"SHIT!"

* * *

As Gray lay bed he stared up at the ceiling conflicted. He hadn't actually expected to become friends with a loud pink haired boy who annoyed him the first day of class, but now it that it's happened he doesn't regret it in the slightest. Nothing, however, could have prepared him for the feeling that bubbled up in his chest every time he saw him. _I know it isn't love, because it can't be. That's the sort of thing you only feel for your soulmate when you meet them. And I mean, I guess… I guess there are people who go against that, but I don't know how I would handle it if my soulmate love someone else…and I don't think I can do that to them either._

None of it made any sense to him anymore, so he did what he usually does when he feels like needs to vent. He paints.

While Gray was not necessarily the most antisocial person, he was definitely bad at talking to people, which is the only reason he never responded to his soulmate's words and all the times that they tried to talk to him. Instead, he painted his body with as many beautiful pictures as he could, trying to show his soulmate that while he was there and appreciated the contact, he was not good at talking. He hoped a soulmate would understand. Today it was a simple sunset with mountains in the background and a field of wildflowers that stretched out in front of it. After a short while he decided to add in a small creek and the reeds coming up form it. It wasn't his best work, but it's what he felt the urge to paint So he did.

The acrylic paint was cold against his stomach, but it did not bother him. It had never bothered him. He wanted briefly if his soulmate ever showed his paintings to anyone. _That would be embarrassing. I never show off my vent art._

Despite what Gray thought of himself and his art, the painting was beautiful, and his soulmate told him so. Words like "pretty" and "gorgeous" and "lovely" spread all the way across his arms and wonderful calligraphy writing that he could never mimic if he had hoped, and something about it seemed familiar in that moment, beyond just being from his soulmate and being the same handwriting that he'd seen for years. Unfortunately he couldn't put his finger on it. _I hope that what I'm feeling is it love, because I really don't want to betray the kind person on the other side of my soulmate link._

* * *

Raw excitement coursed through Natsu's bones as he felt cold feeling on his stomach that seem to come from nowhere. Nothing ever come to him down and made him happier than watching his soulmate paint. . Beautiful gradient of colors was the first to pop up, and then black and grays and white and browns that built up the mountains. While Natsu himself was no good at art, he always liked watching the process of creating and changing that his soulmate went through as they drew.

_It's always so beautiful, but I always worry if they know that… that's why I always leave comments. _He quickly wrote as many compliments as would pop into his head up and down his arms and his odd calligraphy like handwriting. This was the only time he wrote to his soulmate anymore, too worried that he'd be bothering them. _It's why I always show off his art too._

* * *

When Gray walked into his 8 AM English class, he nearly dropped his mug of coffee the moment he laid his eyes on Natsu. Natsu had opted to wear a crop top that day, and to Gray's shock, the acrylic painting that he'd washed off just that morning was plastered across his stomach. The thing that threw him off the most, is that despite Natsu's constant anxiety, he seemed beyond happy to show off the artwork that had shown up across his skin.

Natsu smiled and waved at him the moment that he saw him, and pointed to the artwork the Gray himself it done in the wee hours of the morning. "Look! He hasn't drawn anything in months… I was worried for a while, but I guess they were just really busy."

His blinding smile caused the fluttering in Gray's heart to amplify tenfold, and he panicked. "O-Oh is that so?" The panic only intensified as Natsu looked him up and down, trying to figure out what's wrong, and all at once it hit him that the beautiful calligraphy was the same handwriting that Natsu used to explain the math equations to him. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck- how do I tell him about this? We've known each other for months! He'll think I'm a fucking idiot. I mean he didn't figure it out either, but that doesn't make a difference in the situation does it? Why must things always be complicated?_

* * *

Natsu watched Gray quietly as he sat down, wondering what had gotten his friend in such a mood. Once Gray was close he dropped his voice and leaned in a bit, "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

Gray's answer came far too fast to be natural. "Yep I'm fine. Why would I be fine? There's no reason for me to not be fine…"

"You don't sound fine… But I won't push you if you don't want me to. We can always talk after this class if you need it," Natsu thought that opening the offer would give him the assurance he may need, but he wasn't expecting the response that came from it. Gray leaned over and buried his face in his arms, promptly ignoring him for the rest of the class.

_Did… did I do something wrong?_

* * *

Gray spent the entire day trying to figure out how to word what he needed to say, but in the end he decided he was just going to rip it off like a Band-Aid. At the end of the shared math class, he tapped Natsu on the shoulder. "I'm sorry for ignoring you for most of the day but I had to figure out how to tell you what was going on."

Natsu smiled gently at him and nodded, "yeah... I get that. It happens. Would you rather talk about it somewhere else?"

Gray took a deep breath. "As much as I would like to say yes, I have no idea if I will ever build up the courage to let this come out of my mouth again. To make a very long story short, I finish painting the art that's on your stomach at three in the morning. Anyway, have a good day and feel free to ignore me if that's what you wanna do. Later." All of it had come out very very quickly, and the moment he was finished, Gray turned and practically ran out of the room.

* * *

Natsu paused, trying to parse through the rapid words that had just escaped his friends lips. "The art… On my stomach? That doesn't make any sense… He would have had to have drawn it on me or- wait... some of a bitch-" Natsu shoved everything into his backpack, uncaring of the neatness for once as he took off after Gray. _He was right here the entire time or you fucking kidding me? I'm going to strangle him for not telling me earlier._

When Natsu finally found Gray, he was curled up in a corner of the library hugging his knees close to his chest and staring off into nothing. He was far quieter than he'd ever seen him, and he didn't even notice Natsu approaching. "Gray?"

Gray jolted, and when he looked up at him, his eyes went wide as if he were just then noticing Natsu was there. "U-um-"

He kept his voice soft as he spoke to Gray, "hey… Are you okay?" Gray turned his gaze towards the table, refusing to look Natsu the eye. "I'm not mad at you. Soulmate shit is some... well, tricky shit."

"I just…" Gray's voice was also quiet. He didn't understand how to deal with the situation at all. "We've known each other for months and we didn't notice… How?"

Natsu shook his head. "I'm sure there are multiple reasons we didn't notice. We're college students, we don't pay attention to things, both of us are honestly too anxious to talk to people, we didn't talk much over this soulmate link… It's just a mess in general."

Gray nodded, still staring at the table. "Yeah, I guess…"

"I know we didn't get along in the beginning, but we manage to become friends. I think that shows that we at least can't get along, and I'm willing to try this if you are…" Gray lifted his head up, finally looking him in the eyes. "Besides no one ever said soulmates had to be romantic… I know a couple people who are best friends with their soulmate instead of lovers, and it worked out fine that way too…" Natsu continued to ramble for a minute, lost in his own thoughts. _Even if we don't fall in love, I… I don't want to lose his friendship…_

Gray swallowed harshly, "You actually… Want to try?" Natsu nodded, and Gray leaned against the table, nearly ragdolling. "Oh… okay- yeah… yeah."

Natsu: sighed softly and practically collapsed on the table with him. " this shits too exhausting to deal with on top of college…"

"Fuckin' tell me about it…"

* * *

A few months into the new semester, both of them are taking classes that they enjoyed far more than the last semesters hill if you months into the new semester, both of them are taking classes that they enjoyed far more than last semester's hell.

Happy had situated himself on Gray's shoulders, content to just cuddle in there. Natsu however, had decided he was taking Gray's lap. Both of them were napping, as Natsu was exhausted from a test earlier, and Happy was, well, a cat.

Gray was drawing in a sketchbook with one hand, the other weaved into Natsu's soft pink hair. He and quietly completely content with the situation he was in right now. If you told him that in the beginning of his first semester of college, that his soulmate was the person from his 8AM class who annoyed the piss out of him from day one, you wouldn't believe you. Now though, he wouldn't have it any other way.

He's never been happier. In fact, he'd never realize how touched starved he really was. Natsu was very tactile, and he cuddled him or hugged him or left gentle kisses all over his face any chance that he got. And best of all, they prove that they were unstoppable against a common enemy. Natsu had amazing aim with Nerf guns, and watching his brother, Lyon, get hit in the face every chance that was given would never cease to make him laugh.

If you ignore the terrible math class, Gray counts his first semester of college as a win.


End file.
